Pharmacogenomic research in South Africa : lessons learned and future opportunities in the rainbow nation

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dc.contributor.authorWarnich, Louise
dc.contributor.authorDrogemoller, Britt I.
dc.contributor.authorPepper, Michael S.
dc.contributor.authorDandara, Collet
dc.contributor.authorWright, Galen E.B.
dc.date.accessioned2011-09-06T14:09:57Z
dc.date.available2011-09-06T14:09:57Z
dc.date.issued2011-09
dc.descriptionThe original publication is available at http://www.benthamscience.com/openaccessplus.php?JCode=CPPMen_ZA
dc.descriptionPublication of this article was funded by the Stellenbosch University Open Access Fund.
dc.description.abstractENGLISH ABSTRACT: South Africa, like many other developing countries, stands to benefit from novel diagnostics and drugs developed by pharmacogenomics guidance due to high prevalence of disease burden in the region. This includes both communicable (e.g., HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis) and non-communicable (e.g., diabetes and cardiovascular) diseases. For example, although only 0.7% of the world’s population lives in South Africa, the country carries 17% of the global HIV/AIDS burden and 5% of the global tuberculosis burden. Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has coined the term Rainbow Nation, referring to a land of wealth in its many diverse peoples and cultures. It is now timely and necessary to reflect on how best to approach new genomics biotechnologies in a manner that carefully considers the public health needs and extant disease burden in the region. The aim of this paper is to document and review the advances in pharmacogenomics in South Africa and importantly, to evaluate the direction that future research should take. Previous research has shown that the populations in South Africa exhibit unique allele frequencies and novel genetic variation in pharmacogenetically relevant genes, often differing from other African and global populations. The high level of genetic diversity, low linkage disequilibrium and the presence of rare variants in these populations question the feasibility of the use of current commercially available genotyping platforms, and may partially account for genotypephenotype discordance observed in past studies. However, the employment of high throughput technologies for genomic research, within the context of large clinical trials, combined with interdisciplinary studies and appropriate regulatory guidelines, should aid in acceleration of pharmacogenomic discoveries in high priority therapeutic areas in South Africa. Finally, we suggest that projects such as the H3Africa Initiative, the SAHGP and PGENI should play an integral role in the coordination of genomic research in South Africa, but also other African countries, by providing infrastructure and capital to local researchers, as well as providing aid in addressing the computational and statistical bottlenecks encountered at present.en_ZA
dc.description.versionPublishers' Versionen_ZA
dc.format.extentp. 191-207 : map
dc.identifier.citationWarnich, L. et al 2011, Pharmacogenomic research in South Africa : lessons learned and future opportunities in the Rainbow Nation. Current pharmacogenomics and personalized medicine, 9(3), 191-207.en_ZA
dc.identifier.issn1875-6913 (Online)
dc.identifier.issn1875-6921 (Print)
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/16352
dc.language.isoen_ZAen_ZA
dc.publisherBentham Scienceen_ZA
dc.rights.holderAuthor retain copyrighten_ZA
dc.subjectDisease burdenen_ZA
dc.subjectELSIen_ZA
dc.subjectGenomic technologiesen_ZA
dc.subjectGlobal healthen_ZA
dc.subjectPersonalized medicineen_ZA
dc.subjectPharmacogenomicsen_ZA
dc.subjectPopulation genetic diversityen_ZA
dc.subjectSouth Africaen_ZA
dc.subjectGenomics biotechnologyen_ZA
dc.subjectGenomic researchen_ZA
dc.titlePharmacogenomic research in South Africa : lessons learned and future opportunities in the rainbow nationen_ZA
dc.typeArticleen_ZA
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